This was supposed to be a blog about the wonderful Psymera Boat party and the magnificent Noisily festival, but sadly I did not make it to the boat party as Covid finally caught up with me.

I felt very unwell at work on the Friday before and then felt really unwell on the day of the party and so took a Covid test. It was positive and what followed was a week and a half of the worst illness I have ever had. At times I was worried for my life and at others was concerned I would be left with this debilitating fatigue. I got the virus worse because I have my underlying health condition that makes me extremely clinically vulnerable.

Thankfully I have now made a full recovery.

My friends did go to the Psymera Boat party though and a wonderful time was had by all.

What I did manage to go to was an event that blew my mind; one of those festivals that leaves you reflecting on your life and its possibilities.

I was well enough to attend Noisily festival with my good friend Steve.

NOISILY FESTIVAL

The weather was hot, very hot and it was only going to get hotter. I was up early as my friend Steve wanted to set off for Noisily festival early.

It was 10am Thursday 7th July.

Steve lives in the Worthing area of Sussex and had driven up in his battered red car to take us to the festival. I live in Hampton on the border of Greater London and Surrey and as we put my camping stuff and bags in the car, we knew it was going to be a long hot drive to Leicester.

We finally arrived after a three hour drive through some stunning countryside.

The site of the festival looked huge, but little did we know what was hidden in the forest down in the valley.

After parking up and picking up the first of our stuff we queued in the long line waiting to get in. It was obvious this was a major hippie fest as the queue was full of some amazing looking people. We got talking to many of our fellow festival goers and it was clear there was a lot of good energy in the air.

The security was strict as they went all through our bags looking for naughties and then, finally, we walked through the gate.

We walked a fair way with our heavy luggage in the searing heat before reaching a camping area. After quickly putting up our tents we then went back for the rest of our stuff; and had to queue all over again.

Finally we sat down to a warm cider and watched the hippies, psy-bunnies and colourfully dressed freaks arrive on mass.

Then we went for our first explore of the site. Only the chillout area was open on the first night but even that was pretty impressive with tepees, fires, strange tents, wonderful hippie shops, cafes, bars and a yoga/meditation area.

There was going to be a few DJs in the converted bus DJ podium at the end of that chilled out square and so it looked like the first night party would be cool.

After chatting to an amazing character who ran the Jackfruit clothing store, we went back to the camp site to get ready for our first boogie.

For a festival Thursday night, the opening party was amazing. The music throughout the festival was amazing and the first night was no different. But the thing me and Steve were so impressed with were the abundance of incredible people. The vibe was so hippie and there were so many far out colourful characters, full of love and positive energy. We danced quite a bit before meeting many familiar Whirly faces. Judging by the first party, this was going to be a fantastic event.

We were quite tired after our long journey and soon we both went back to our tents. That’s when we realised we had made a mistake, not only were we in the middle of a very busy, noisy area but we had camped right next door to the main path that leads to all the camping areas. I tried to sleep but it was party party party all around all night. Not only that but a drunken minority of younger festival goers were playing up and had ripped down the yellow tape separating the path from the tents and people were releasing guy ropes and falling on top of me onto my tent; it was a bit of a crazy scene and I did not sleep a wink.

Needless to say, first thing next morning, this old hippie and his mate moved their tents right to the far end of the quiet camping area for a better nights sleep on the second night.

From that moment on the festival became something magical as day two began.

in the morning, after we had moved our tents, we went down to the initial festival area to grab a coffee (we were both knackered after that first noisy night). We had also heard there was to be a parade that would open the main festival site and we wanted to join it.

One thing I noticed at this festival were these huge beautiful looking tents that housed the shops, cafes and chill out areas. Their interiors were beautiful, with plush cushions, poofs and beautifully patterned ceilings.

We queued for ages outside one for a coffee before giving up and decided to wait until the main area was open.

While we waited we returned to Jackfruit, the hippie clothing shop. Kevin, the owner, and the other staff were so lovely, free spirited and friendly; and they all looked incredible. Steve ended up buying a jacket and a waistcoat from them.

All of a sudden the place erupted as the hippie parade began, we quickly joined the ranks of the colourful smiling hippies as we all made our way into the forest and down to the main festival site.

On the way down we passed statues of butterflies, water features, more tepees and other wonderful things like gongs and chillout areas.

Finally we entered the main Noisily festival area and our brains exploded.

Over a massive area of woodland were several different areas. One was a chilled place where people were spinning hoops, juggling, dancing with fire and twisting and turning all manner of strange things.

We sat with a beer and watched these colourful freaks do their thing; it was magnificent.

We then crossed a bridge through the woods to the main area. There was a live stage with all sorts of entertainment from beat boxing to fire dancing.

Above this area on a hill was one of our favourite dancefloors, the Treehouse. The music was a sort of chilled out uplifting dance and we loved it, returning again and again over the next few days.

Straight down from this was a shopping area where I bought a new t-shirt. Finally after this we found a tent selling coffee, and no queue. The place was called the Lizard Chai Shop, and it was here we met one of the most inspirational people I have ever met.

As Steve and myself were sitting drinking our coffees, feeling drained after not much sleep, A guy walked out of the tent and joined us; his name was Steve too.

Steve chatted to us for ages and was very warm and friendly, and clearly honestly interested in who we were and what our stories were. We then asked him about himself and in a few words it was clear he was living the dream.

He owned the chai tent we were sitting outside and ran a business buying these beautiful event tents from Jaipur in India. He then rents them out to festival stalls and he and his crew construct them for the clients at the start of the festival, and take them down at the end. Its a good business and he is doing well out of it. He also DJs in the evenings. As a result he has built a retreat in the Portuguese mountains and invites people to come spend some time there as part of an eco hippie community. His life and story were just beautiful and after he left us I felt much more awake and full of positive energy; its amazing how someone’s light and positive energy can transport to another and lift them up too. At the end he invited Steve and me to stay at the retreat next year.

Steve was one of many amazing people we met at Noisily, the festival was full of beautiful characters full of good energy. One example was Kevin from Jackfruit, a lovely interesting guy. Our neighbours in the campsite were lovely too, including these two above who were there as part of the Psy-Care facility that I spoke about in my Psymera post; they also bought a copy of my book, as did many others.

From that lovely moment on, we had the most amazing, hippie fabulous, spiritual, happy time at Noisily, its a fantastic festival. I even tried mushrooms for the first time with mixed results. But it is true to say, we had the time of our lives. We danced and danced.

Now let me tell you about the other two stages we danced at: The Liquid stage and the Noisily stage.

The Liquid stage was very busy and full of eccentric characters. This was the psytrance stage and although we had the odd boogie or two there, it got so busy in the evening that with the heat, we tended to avoid it and head for the other stage.

That said I know a lot of people loved it there and had a great time.

I loved the music they played too, often a fusion of psytrance and acid, I heard this sort of music a lot at Noisily and its my cup of tea.

For me, the Noisily stage was the best stage (day and night), I loved the music, I loved the amazing hippie characters, and I love the vibe; it was magnificent and we danced and danced and made lots of new friends. Hippie bliss.

As well as all the dancing, there was so much socialising, which I enjoyed. We also enjoyed some of the talks given, one on meditation was especially good.

The festival really came alive though in the evenings.

I have no hesitation in saying that Noisily festival really effected me and Steve; the amazing people we met, the hippie spirit, those amazing tents, the incredible music and the beautiful woodland environment. We are defiantly going back and I strongly recommend this festival.

One big negative: on the last night (Sunday) the security have a last night party, so there were very few security around. That last night a criminal element (who clearly know that security is lax that night), climbed over the fence and robbed many tents. The scary thing was a lot of people were sleeping in those tents at the time; anything could have happened. This is a serious weakness on behalf of Noisily and they need to sort it.

That said, I loved this festival and will defiantly be back; me and Steve even came out of it with a plan for a new business that will open in 2024. Fabulous Noisily, fabulous!

My Big Birthday Bash

I just wanted to end this rather long blog post with some fond memories of my wonderful birthday bash. This 57 year old had a party thrown for him by my lovely friend Louise. All my friends came, it was a beautiful day and the party was fantastic. So, thanks Louise, and here are some pics to end with.